Kia Cee'd proceeds with style - Limerick Independent News

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Kia Cee'd proceeds with style

Written by Staff Reporter

Wednesday, 17 June 2009

   KIA'S Cee'd has opened new doors for the Korean car maker. Now the arrival of the Pro cee'd, a sportier version that's also available as a van, has pushed that door further with a fresh design and at a value price.    On first impressions the Pro cee'd is an impressive looking car with sports styling that brings a dashing look.
   It shares the bonnet and the front wings with the hatchback model but that's all as the rest of the car is fresh to the Pro cee'd.
   The shallow windscreen, low roof lining and big side doors give Pro cee'd a sporty, cockpit-like feel.
   The lower roofline marginally reduces headroom compared with the five-door hatchback car. And the interior styling which shares some of the cee'd hatchback features is unique to the Pro cee'd.
   There's a practical side to the Pro cee'd. It's available with a thrifty a 1.6 litre turbo-diesel engine.
   That was the car that I drove recently where the diesel power complimented the style rather than took away from it.
   This engine has now lots of time and distance experience across a range of Kia models. It has by now been well tested across Europe without a fault.
   Engine power is impressive at 115bhp and it develops 235Nm of torque. That's a reasonable level of torque but I would have expected a car with sporty ambitions like the Pro cee'd to have a shade more pace than the 13.5 seconds for a 0 to 100km/hr run.
   That may seem to be a bit unfair, after all this is a modest 1.6 litre diesel engine, but the Kia Pro cee'd is not a big or heavy car.
   That's why I had expected more from it. The positive side is the impressive fuel economy figure. Few enough cars can claim a combined fuel economy figure of 4.7 litres/100km (68mpg) and the Kia Pro cee'd diesel does just that.
   That formula is added to by a relatively low CO2 rating of 125g/km. This pushes it just outside the basic A Band for Road tax, but in Band B the annual tax cost is still a reasonable figure of just â‚¬156.
   The dominant feature of the Kia Pro cee'd is its looks. But you get looks and economy in this car.
   The three-door hatchback design is very modern. The seating is sporty in style with good adjustment and solid enough without being rally style firm.
   The dash layout is clear and easy to use with a simple Blaupunkt radio/CD set-up. The car comes with iPod and MP3 compatibility.
   There's a simple USB port to connect to along with an iPod auxiliary port if needed all as part of the standard package.
   The gear change from the five-speed gearbox is a shade light. There is not much of a hint of sporty feel to it or the gear ratios.
   This is a sports car for someone who wants to look well without having to face a challenging drive each time they take to the road.
   The Pro cee'd may be longer, lower and lighter than the hatchback cee'd, it matches the safety criteria.
   I've not seen Euro NCAP crash test report on the car yet, but the cee'd hatchback on which it is based came out well in its test. Expect a similar 5 star performance.
   The two wide doors open in three stages to a maximum width of 70-degrees.
   For the car version the front seats have a top-mounted handle to tilt the backrest. As it does so, the whole seat also slides forward in one smooth, continuous movement.
   The luggage area or boot is easy to access. The rear seat has a fixed cushion in place of the forward folding split system in cee'd.
   The 60:40 split rear backrest is easy to release and folds down onto the cushion, with no need to first remove the headrests.
   This gives a stepless load floor area. That was especially noticeable in the Pro cee'd version that I had on test, which was a van conversion Pro cee'd giving additional value for VAT registered buyers.
   The basic 1.6LX version of the Kia Pro cee'd comes with a list price of â‚¬20,500. Take the van version with two seats and the price drops by â‚¬1,000 and then there's the VAT benefit of the further 21.5%. This seems good value for a stylish small and economical van.
   For car drivers, the value is good and this is being proven by the impressive sales tally in difficult times.
   The passenger Pro cee'd has compact seats and yes legroom will be tight. Show me a sports car with better legroom and you'll find that the price tag won't match of the Pro cee'd.

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